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Episode 18, Friday 13 June , 2008

Lost and Found - Episode 18

John Taylor

[John] It was like a kick in the guts. I wanted to belong, and everybody wants to belong to a family, I didn’t have one. I don’t think I was basically wanted. Why I was adopted in the first place I’ll never know.

Wanting to find out more about himself, he had traced and found several members of his family, including his birth mother. In doing so, he was told that he had a sister called Heather. He started searching for Heather and found Greta Pearce, the woman who had adopted her. Sadly, John was told that Heather had passed away.

Greta suffered from dementia and couldn’t tell John a lot about his sister. She was, however, able to tell him that his sister had a daughter called Helen, who was the ‘Toowoomba Charity Princess’ in 1977.

There wasn’t a lot of information to go on, but John desperately wanted to meet Heather’s daughter, the strongest link he had to his sister. He contacted ‘Can We Help?’ in the hope of making this happen.

[Helen] I always remember Mum, she was always full of life, she would do anything for her children, absolutely anything. When Mum died, basically a mirror shattered and we were pieces of that mirror that went different ways.

Now, thanks to the team, John finally got to meet his niece and a nephew! They in turn get the chance to meet the uncle they have never known and get to share their memories of their late mother.

[John] It’s just been so joyous, so overwhelming. The fact that we’ve just met, we can talk like we’ve never been apart.

[Bill] It’s interesting because through my background I’ve always put up barriers to the past, this is one that might well be broken down.

[Helen] It’s going to create a whole new chapter in our lives and I think for the better.

[John] To me it’s a finish of a journey of searching, now’s the start of another journey of meeting and nurturing I suppose. I’m looking forward to this, every step.